Osmunda regalisL.

European royal fern

WFO wfo-0001109067 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Osmunda regalis, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. a Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-10 / obs. 205984884
Osmunda regalis, photographed by Elizabete Marchante
fig. b Elizabete Marchante, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199617134
Osmunda regalis, photographed by Elizabete Marchante
fig. c Elizabete Marchante, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199669990
Osmunda regalis, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. d Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205976402
Osmunda regalis, photographed by Petr Knotek
fig. e Petr Knotek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190640143
Osmunda regalis, photographed by Elizabete Marchante
fig. f Elizabete Marchante, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184694536
Osmunda regalis, photographed by nick_goldwater
fig. g nick_goldwater, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174797089
Osmunda regalis, photographed by José Luis Camaño
fig. h José Luis Camaño, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194791899

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 20 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aphyllocalpa regalis (L.) Cav.
  • Osmunda brayeri Watelet
  • Osmunda leschenaultii Wall.
  • Osmunda longifolia (C.Presl) A.E.Bobrov
  • Osmunda plumieri Tausch
  • Osmunda regalis prol. plumieri (Tausch) Rouy
  • Osmunda regalis var. acuminata Milde
  • Osmunda regalis var. albescens Ivery ex J.Dix
  • Osmunda regalis var. capensis Milde
  • Osmunda regalis var. crispa Wallr.
  • Osmunda regalis var. cristata H.Osborn ex J.Dix
  • Osmunda regalis var. incisa Gray
  • Osmunda regalis var. longifolia C.Presl
  • Osmunda regalis var. monstrosa Wallr.
  • Osmunda regalis var. obtusifolia (Kaulf.) Milde
  • Osmunda regalis var. obtusiuscula Milde
  • Osmunda regalis var. plumieri (Tausch) P.E.Fourn.
  • Osmunda spectabilis var. palustris (Schrad.) C.Presl
  • Osmunda spicata L.
  • Struthiopteris regalis (L.) Bernh.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.